…Only 10 percent of residents access portable water…
“Cold pure water! Fine pure water!” shouts a girl hawking drinking water on the streets of Lagos, a bustling metropolis almost completely surrounded by water.
This shout echoes out in all towns and many villages across Africa’s most populous country and the continent’s largest oil producer.
These small cellophane water bags – unlike tap water – are readily available, and come chilled.
Water experts say that they are anything but pure, but that means nothing to the millions of Nigerians who have no access to good, clean water.
Lagos is the unofficial headquarters of the “pure” water industry and has many fans.
“It is neatly presented and easily available. In Lagos it is much more dangerous to take tap water than pure water,” an enthusiastic customer explains.
Detractors complain, however, that pure water producers – who are meant to drill boreholes and purify the water privately – pilfer the water from state water pipes.
Until some years ago, these pipes reached woefully few areas of the city.
But the chief executive officer of the Lagos Water Corporation, Olumuyiwa Coker, says things are slowly improving since he’s come to the helm of the state authority.
“Right now we have 50% coverage. We expect that in the next 10 years that should increase to between 70%-80%. What we inherited four of five years ago was really a sector that was virtually comatose,” he says.
Epileptic electricityLagos’s first potable water supply plant was established at Iju, more than 80 years ago. Today the city’s population – an estimated 20million – has far outstripped the production capacity of the Iju Waterworks.
So with only half the population having potable water – and that’s when the pumps are working – have state authorities simply being ignoring the problem?
Not more than 10 per cent of Lagos’s resident have no access to potable water
It appears not: a much bigger second plant to boost supply has been built at Adiyan, reputed to be the biggest in Africa. “This plant was commissioned in 1991 to produce 70million gallons per day,” Production Manager Mustapha Olajide Agiri says.
“Technically there is no problem. Our major constraint is with the power supply, as on average we only get about 16 hours a day.”
Lagos residents at a public water supply point
Money mattersAs far as the public is concerned, however, the main water problem, apart from insufficiency, is its quality. But the production engineer at Iju Waterworks is adamant that his plant meets international standards.
“It has good stability and a pH of 7.0, which is one of the best in the world. The quality of the water we pump is comparable even with Europe,” Ehunmi said.
He explains that the colouring found in tap water in many areas is a result of contamination in the pipes laid by consumers to take the water into their premises.
The UN’s target to halve the number of people without safe drinking water by 2015 is something the Lagos Water Corporation is committed to, Mr Coker says.
“Essentially what it entails is increasing our infrastructure to probably twice the size it is now by 2015. But to do this, the corporation needs resources, which is unlikely to be forthcoming from the state government and other sources of revenue such as the participation with the private sector are being considered. We need between $1.8bn to $2bn in the next 10 years to actualise these goals”, he says
As in so many other sectors, it is the availability of funds that will eventually decide whether or not the people of Lagos beat poverty and get good, safe drinking water in 10 years’ time.
Government both at the Federal and State levels and the Private sector have been at the fore front of providing portable water for the populace. Nigeria Water and Sanitation Association, NIWASA, is the umbrella body for water Engineers and Sanitation expert in Nigeria.
At a stakeholders forum to sensitize residents of Lagos West Senatorial District, last week, the Technical committee for the development of the water supply and sanitation sector policy for Lagos state, disclosed that only 2.1 million out of about 20 million residents of the state have access to portable water daily. This represents some 10 per cent of the residents.
It is worthy of note that the state government, through the Lagos Water Corporation, LWC, has three major water works: Iju, Adiyan and Isasi works and 48 mini schemes scattered across the state. It has also completed the construction of the Ota-Ikosi Water Works that will be commissioned later in the year. When fully in operation, it is expected to increase the total installed water production capacity for the state to 900 million litres per day. These are expected to provide water sufficiently for 8 million residents of the state.
Over 70 per cent of houses in Lagos lack public water supply. The major source of water is through boreholes and wells while other residents patronises water hawkers, known as “Merua” who sell at exorbitant prices.
Those who can not afford them trek long distances to fetch water from public taps or get cheaper water vendors. One of the unwholesome practices is that in some cases desperate residents go for any burst water pipe, no matter the location to get water for their domestic needs. Some of the pipes are located in the gutters, refuse sites among others. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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it's potable not portable
ReplyDeleteU got to be kidding me anon whatever shior
ReplyDeleteThe first anon was right. It is potable and not portable.
ReplyDelete